Emmanuel Macron

He made this statement during a Q&A session with the students of the Sogeri School of Excellence at the Varirata National Park in Central Province on Friday, July 28, 2023.

When asked how France plans to help PNG in its effort to preserve its net carbon (negative) footprint while helping to promote sustainable economic development, President Macron said that is exactly the goal of the strategy and partnership both countries currently have. 

He told students that the strategy is aimed at preserving the rainforests and also to partner in this cause.

The visit marks a significant milestone as it will be the first time a French president has visited an independent country in the Pacific.

PM Marape views President Macron's visit as a testament to Papua New Guinea's growing global connectivity and prominence on the international stage.

He expressed enthusiasm for the opportunities the visit will bring to strengthen ties between the two nations and promote bilateral cooperation.

The invitation was extended during a meeting between Prime Minister Marape and Walid Fouque, Special Advisor for Asia and the Pacific to President Macron, held in Port Moresby on June 5, 2023.

This visit follows previous encounters between President Macron and Prime Minister Marape, including a meeting at the One Forest Summit in Gabon earlier this year and their attendance at APEC 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand. President Macron's visit to Port Moresby will commence at 11am on July 28 and conclude at 5pm on the same day.

The French President wrote, “On the occasion of the National Day of Papua New Guinea, I am pleased to extend my warmest congratulations to you, both on my own behalf and on behalf of the French people.

“As a Pacific country through the presence of its local authorities in New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna, France shares a common vision of the challenges in Oceania with Papua New Guinea, particularly on the issue of combating the effects of climate change.

Emmanuel Macron, for one.

The newly elected French president told a French journal Sunday that his handshake with US President Donald Trump during a meeting during the NATO gathering in Brussels last week was about much more than just an exchange of pleasantries.

"My handshake with him, it's not innocent," Macron said. "It's not the alpha and the omega of politics, but a moment of truth."

He added: "One must show that we won't make little concessions, even symbolic ones."

France's new president also reaffirmed his commitment to helping the West African country, where French soldiers have been facing extremists since 2013.

Mr Macron said he hoped to strengthen ties with Germany to boost security in the area, according to Reuters.

This trip is Mr Macron's second foreign visit since his inauguration on Sunday.

He has already visited German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Mr Macron arrived in Gao, in the north of the former French colony, just before 10:00 GMT (11:00 BST) on Friday.

Philippe is a a member of the centre-right Les Républicains party and is close to Alaine Juppé, the former Prime Minister.

The choice of Philippe -- widely predicted by political pundits -- indicates Macron's desire to draw support from the conservative opposition and create balance, according to Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan, lecturer in European politics at University College, Cork.

The appointment is crucial for Mr Macron, who needs to do well in next month's parliamentary elections to push through his planned economic reforms.

Later he will travel to Germany to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The 39-year-old former investment banker and economy minister was inaugurated yesterday in a ceremony at the Élysée Palace.

He promised to convince people that "the power of France is not declining - that we are on the brink of a great renaissance".

Macron has shaken up French politics with his meteoric rise to the presidency, winning his campaign as an independent and with the backing of a fledgling political party he founded less than a year ago.

At 39, Macron becomes the youngest president in France's history, and the youngest leader since Napoleon.

In a moving first speech as president, Macron described a fractured country and promised to bring confidence back to a nation rattled by global instability.

See him on campaign last week: he was talking to hardline CGT union members at a soon-to-close factory in the north. These guys hate everything he stands for. Their jobs are going to Poland.

And yet they weren't baying for his blood, they were listening.

A day later he could be talking to a symposium of stuffed-shirt bosses; or a raucous crowd of banlieue teenagers; or some funky young start-up types. And they would all be listening with the same intent.

As someone said in a recent documentary on France's new president: "The guy could seduce an office chair."